Great Uncle Calice S. Gallant 1912-1992

I’m just beginning to snoop around, where Calice is concerned. In the end, he was a shoe maker, although on the 1940 Voter’s list, he is a labourer and lives at 146 Water Street. By 1949, he was in the Shoe Making business and lived with his wife, Katherine or Catherine Blakeney, on Belmont Street.

On the 1921 census, there has been a transcription error, where Calice is concerned, and he is listed as Valois. I have contacted Ancestry to make the change. He is listed as 10 years of age. My grandmother (Tillie) is listed at the bottom of the page.

Here are daughter, Betty, Katherine (Kay) Blakeney and Calice at Mamie’s funeral in January 1964.

Calice served alongside his brothers during World War II and can be seen here on the total right side. Calice passed away twelve years after this newspaper article was posted. Thank goodness for social media, I found this posted on a Facebook page by Gary Gallant! It’s nice to see the original newspaper article.

I have already found a beautiful write-up from an early newspaper about his son, Lawrence Raymond Gallant, although I can find little about him apart from the fact that he became an electrician. Lawrence or Larry is possibly still living.

Betty and brother, Lawrence, were babysat by the mother of James Perry when they were babies. The small photograph below would have been the coloured version of the photo that appears in the newspaper article. Unfortunately, I have no access to that photograph for now.

On Voter’s Lists, Uncle Calice was listed, over the years, as Labourer, Shoemaker and Cobbler.

1940 – Labourer living at 146 Water Street
1949 – Shoemaker, along with his wife, living on Belmont Street
1957 – Truck Driver, along with wife, living at 290 First Street
1963 – Shoemaker living at 182 Shurman Ave. (no wife listed)
1974 – Cobbler living, along with wife named Katherine, living at 182 Shurman Ave.

If you are a part of the Gallant kin and you have any narratives, recollections or photographs, I would be so appreciative of your sharing. I think that he was a very skilled person to repair people’s shoes…a trade that is a little bit of mystery to me. I’ve just recently read about the tradition of making shoes from scratch and it is quite a process!

A photograph, featured on Fine Art America, was taken by Lionel F. Stevenson of Charlottetown, PEI. It is, in fact, my Great Uncle. When I contacted Mr. Stevenson, he did not know who the character was in the doorway. He took the photograph out of interest for the shoe repair shop. The photo is now available in a large number of formats and Mr. Stevenson has given me permission to use the image here on my blog. As you can imagine, I was very excited when my cousin, James Perry, connected me to this beautiful shot.

From a Facebook conversation that followed the posting of the above image, this substantiation of some of what I’ve found so far. I’d love to hear from either Betty MacNeill or Larry Gallant.

“Calice Gallant, he lived on Schurman Ave. He and his wife Kay had 2 children, Elizabeth who took nursing in Charlottetown and married Justin MacNeill (from Richmond) who worked at Enman Drug. They settled in Montague where Justin purchased the Mabon Drug Store, She now lives in Ch’town. Calice’s son Lawrence (Larry) graduated St Dunstans and moved to Saint John where he worked as a hos[ital administrator. He still lives there.”

My Dad just shared some Skype time with me and told me that Calice would only answer to the name, Zip. This is contrary to my own records where I have, on file, brother Philippe, assigned this nickname. Dad remembers on one of our visits to the island that Gabe (my Papie), took Dad for a walk through the alleys to Calice’s shoe repair. He told me that they took a bottle of gin with them. He will always remember Calice, his lips lined with tacks, and how he could put back his liquor at the same time as doing his shoe repair. I’m grateful to my Dad for having a memory and I welcome more from family. For example, I’d like to know the address of the shoe repair shop. (While I haven’t confirmed this yet, the following building on Granville Street, may be the building…not certain as of yet).

Resting place in St. Paul’s Cemetery, Summerside, PEI. Photo courtesy of James Perry, researcher and family historian, Summerside, PEI

Wonderful family, if you can help me build upon this profile by sharing photographs or stories, I’d love for you to contact me via shepaintsred@yahoo.ca Blessings! And may Uncle Calice rest in peace and may perpetual light shine upon him.